I'll Be Your Guardian
by Faythie
Summary: So I have a lot on my table lately. .... I got my band, I have to deal with school too. Oh! Did I mention that I just found out my girlfriend is being abused by her father? A 17 year old shouldn't have all this stress! SquallxRinoa TidusxYuna CloudxAeris
1. Sure As Hell Didn't See That Coming

**WARNING: Profanity, Partial Nudity, and Sexual Themes. **

_**Sure As Hell Didn't See That Coming.**_

Public transportaion will always take it's sweet ass time.

There is no way it'll come when you need it. It will either come early so you miss it, or extremely late. Epecially if it's winter... the point of winter where the deep frost hits. Like a fricken Ice Age waiting to happen. It doesn't help that you live two hours away from the school you go to, so you can't walk. Well.. you could... but you'd probably die along the way.

So here I am in the bus terminal, wearing my awesome trench coat, a dark blue scarf, leather gloves, and black snow boots. I'm wearing clothes under the trench coat I swear.

"... W-when's the bus g-g-gonna c-come...?" said my silly girlfriend who chose to only wear a thin sweater. I opened my coat and let her in, she was worse than ice. Rinoa cuddled against me and pressed her cheek to my chest. " ...S-should've woren w-warmer clothes h-huh?" She smiled.

"I told you it was and ige age down here." I smirked back.

" Y-yeah ... b-but I t-t-thought y-you w-were e-exagurating..."

"Still should've worn more than just a sweater, maybe a jacket, think Rin." I hugged her tighter. Poor thing. I kinda felt like an ass for inviting her down here. Then again she has to learn to listen better. " Hey maybe we should hop you on the bus back to Deling, it's right there." I pointed to the bus arriving. "Besides, that way you can get some warm clothes and come back here next weekend." Wait what was I doing? I don't want her to leave!

"No way! I haven't s-seen you in like a m-m-month, a-and D-daddy might not let me come d-down here again! I was l-lucky to even g-g-get t-the c-chance today." True... her dad was a royal prick. If he could, he would find any and every excuse not to let Rin come visit me and vise-versa. He told me, of course not when Rinoa was there, that his daughter can do better than a "waste of space pesant from Winhill", and he doesn't know how she ended up with me... I swear if Rinoa heard that she would've punched him out. But unfortunately, I had do it, so from there on in, on his orders, she was to never see me again. That didn't stop Rin from sneaking me in, or sneaking out. But this time she actually asked and I guess the fucker was over a broken nose and let her visit.

" Ok, fine. But we're gonna go to the mall or something to buy some warmer clothes."

" ' Kay! B-but Squall... "

"Yeah?"

" ..Why h-hasn't the b-bus come yet? I m-mean ... it comes at 3 r-right? It's 3:09 r-right now... I know it's only t-t-ten minutes b-b-but.."

Good question. " During the winter, because of the ice, the buses like to run slow. To avoid an accident I guess."

Rinoa giggled. " Well I g-guess that means we get more time in the warm bus huh?" Her stuttering wasn't as bad as before so I guess it means she was getting warmer. I smiled at her and kissed her forehead.

" I guess. Come on, lets walk around for bit. Get warm or something."

When I was kid, Winhill was, sadly, abosolute crap, it's become a much better place now. For one, the place was a lot bigger. Thanks to fundings from Esthar, more houses were built, there were more job oppurtunities, and this big mall, might I add. That's sort of a big deal here. Strange though, before the whole "Indrustrial Revolution" of Winhill, people would always move out. In fact, a good 80 percent of the population of this place weren't born here. They moved to Winhill about two years ago, after the mall was done. So that would explain the bus routes.

Goddamnit! So walking didn't do anything for the cold. My foot went numb, probably from kicking snow around. Rinoa looked up and her eyes were full of concern." What's wrong?"

" I lost all feeling in my goddamn foot." That seemed to perk her interest.

"All feeling?"

"...Yeah.. why?" Something had to be up. Rin giggled again and pulled away from me. She gave me that sweet smile, the kind that tells you she's about to do something bad. Next thing I knew, Rinoa's heel was connected to my left foot, and all I felt was surging pain. " What the hell!" I didn't start hopping on one foot, instead I just plopped my ass down and held in the pain. Rinoa quickly sat next me. She was still giggling.

"I am so sorry! I didn't think you would feel that." Rinoa put her arms around me in an attempt to comfort me. "I'm sorry Squall. Tell ya what? When we get to your house I'll give you a nice massage." Damn, I was hoping for something better.

"Fine..." My foot was still hurting like hell. Apologies don't solve everything. It better be a damn good massage. Sucking it up, I got up again and began walking back to the terminal. Rinoa caught up to me and linked her arm to mine. We were a good five feet away before the damn bus drove by.

Another thing about public transportation, if you try to occupy yourself to make the time pass by quicker, it will show up just when you are about to get back. Then it will drive off and you have to wait longer to catch the next bus. Injured foot or not, I wasn't about to wait another hour before the next bus. I grabbed Rinoa's hand and began running. She was resisting at first until she saw the stupid thing and ran with me. For the twelth time this week I was glad for the long line to hold the driver up. We got in, paid for the ride and I took the closest seat to rest my foot, which was hurting worse than before. Rinoa sat next to me and began looking out the window. She gave me that sweet smile and kissed my cheek.

"So Squall, still playing?"

"Video games, or guitar?"

"Both."

"Yeah, actully I wrote a song for you."

Her eyes lit up. " Really?"

I scoffed. "No."

"Oh... Well.. one day, can you?"

"Write a song for you?" Rinoa nodded happily. "Sure" I gave her a quick peak on the lips. ...Ok... so I'm whipped...only slightly... Rinoa suddenly smirked.

"I haven't told you where I was gonna give you the massage have I?" Her voice was low and sexy. I shook my head, just to see her hand move to my leg stroke it and move higher. I had to look at her eyes, to make sure she knew what she was doing. Oh she knew exactly what she was doing, for her hand had just brushed my zipper and she unbottoned my pants. See this was what I was hoping for.

"This bus is moving too damn slow." Rinoa giggled and removed her hand and looked outside the window again.

Goddamn it.

I never understood how a girl so sweet and kind could be such a minx. Though I guess it makes it hotter. I kept thinking about what Rin was going to do when we reach my house. But then I had to think about something else entirely so a bulge wouldn't form in my pants.

Finally after a half hour or we got to our stop. I pretty much ran out, andRinoa thanked the bus driver and got off soon after. Again she linked her arm to mine. Luckily my house was just down the street. When we reached the front door, I began praying to God that Laguna wasn't home. Either I was excited or nervous, I don't know, but my hand shook as I turned the key in the doorknob. "Please don't be home, please don't be home." I whispered to myself. There really was a God. And he had answered my prayers, for Laguna was nowhere to be found.

And the Lord said: Let there be sex!

As quickly as a black chocobo we made our way to my bedroom, running up the stairs, lips touching the whole way. Rinoa pushed me onto my bed and straddled over me. She placed kisses on my neck, as her right hand took off my belts and unzipped my pants. Her hand made it's way underneath my boxers and began to work it's magic. I felt my breath hitch. My head rolled back and I closed my eyes, just relaxing into her touch. I would let her stomp on, and nearly break my foot anytime she wanted if this is how she was going to make up for it

But the ectasy didn't last as long ,nor did it get as far as it should've. A certain fool of father bust his way in, a dumbass smile on his face.

"Hey Squall, what does you want dinner?"

I has never seen Rinoa jump so high in my life. She quickly got into a casual pose. As for me, well... out of reflex, I made my way to hide under the bed. It was a technique I learned from sneaking into Rinoa's house.

Laguna's face went from stupid happy to rather confused and back to stupid happy. "Rinny!" He jumped on Rin giving her a big hug. I tried to make my way out of the dark of void crap under my bed and saw Rin hugging him back happily. "I missed you sooo much!" Laguna said in a squeaky tone.

"You too Mr. Loire!" Rinoa actually liked this guy for some reason. Laguna stopped smiling and just stared at Rinoa. " Oh, Laguna...sorry." Rinoa replied with a smile.

"That's better! You make me look old Rinny..."

"I'm sorry Laguna."

"It's okay! So how come you took so long to visit?" Easy answer, her father was an jackass.

"Oh...well...Daddy doesn't like Squall very much..so he wouldn't let me." Rinoa's tone was soft and rather hushed, which was normal when she was trying to hide something. Laguna nodded.

"That's understandable. If I had a daughter I wouldn't like it if she was hanging around Squall either." At that point, I had finally made it out from under the damn bed.

"Hey screw off old man." Laguna stuck out his tounge. "Real mature."

"Anyways, since Rinny is here, so I'll cook something special!"

"Better let Mom do that." I retorted.

"I cook better than your mom, you know that." I did, Ma couldn't cook for... well let's just say Laguna did a better job. But there were somethings Mom was better cooking. Well baking anyways... her cakes were awesome.

"Yeah, yeah. Speaking of her, when is she coming back?"

Raine Loire was a hard working person. She worked day in and day out at the hospial. Unlike what most would think, she wasn't a nurse. She was the head doctor in the building. So Mom would often come home around midnight and leave around eight in the morning. Not too fun for her.

"Mommy said she would be home early today." Laguna said with a smile. "Which is good, cuz I'm gonna be making awesome food, to celebrate Rinny and Raine being here once in while."

Rinoa smiled at me. She loved my mom too. "Thanks Mr- I mean Laguna." Laguna left with wink and raced off to the kitchen. I turned to Rin, hoping we could continue what we doing. She came closer, but this time just to put her arms around. "Love you."

"Love you too Angel." But Angel reminded me of X-Men, which reminded me of Marvel vs. Capcom, which made me think Resident Evil, which made me think number four, which made me think of playing it. So letting go of Rinoa, I went to my shelf, grabbed Resident Evil 4 and popped it in the Playstation.

"Rin, you don't mind if I play a game do ya? You know just until Laguna's done cookin'?"

"Not at all. What cha playin'?"

"RE 4 Rin." Rinoa's face went pale.

"Ekku..." A term she used for something scary or gross. "That one was scary. The people are much faster and they come out of nowhere!" An interesting fact about Rinoa Heartilly, although she is pretty, beautiful actually, she dresses nice, and she's popular, contary to popular belief, Rinoa is hardcore gamer and comic fan. She hugged my arm tightly to reassure her fear. "Oh! Wait, this is the one with Leon in it right? Ok, I'll watch!" It doesn't help your self-esteem if your girlfriend loves a video game character more than you.

I sighed and started playing the part where you first meet Ashley. I gotta say, I was better off in this game when she wasn't around. Ashley's a fucking pain. Her boobs are the only way she makes up for it.

"Rin, how long you staying here for?" I asked while throwing a grenade at several crazies.

"Hopefully the weekend." Good, I had Rinoa for two whole nights. Lots of time. I looked over to her to send her a smirk, just to see if she was thinking what I was thinking. But something else caught my attention. On her leg, right where the clothing of her skirt ended, I saw a small purple spot, against her white skin and white skirt, it was hard _not_ to spot.

"Hey Squall did you know if you beat the game, you get outfits for Leon where he's in a really sexy mobster outfit? And an infinite rocket launcher? Isn't that just kick ass?"

"Yeah, yeah, cool. Rinoa...what's that?" I gestured to the spot.

"What's what? I don't see anything."

I paused the game and moved closer. I pulled up her skirt a little to see if it was a bruise or just a marker dot. It was a bruise...and it was much bigger than I intially thought. The damn thing was about the size of someone's fist and looked new like it was made within the past day or so. It was a bright purple as far as bruises go, and I think it was throbbing. I lightly touched it and yep...throbbing. "God...How..how did you get this?" I gotta say... I really didn't want to know.

Rinoa looked down and gasped a little. "Wow.. how did I get that huh? Damn, it's huge. I must've fallen or something." Though her voice sounded humorous, I detected the hint of, hushness, if you will, in it.

"Rinoa, you don't get that from a fall. Ever."

"Well, I'm pretty clumsy you-"

"No Rinoa. Not that clumsy. Tell me what really happened."

She hesitated for a while. "Nothing... nothing happened." She smiled.

"Whatever, you'll tell me eventually. Now come on, Iet's get some ice for that."

Rinoa shook her head. "No, it's fine."

"Do you see that?" I pointed to her leg. "That is not fine!"

"It is, it doesn't hurt, therefore it's fine. Now play your damn game."

"Whatever. I'm getting ice for it anyway." Rinoa let out a very annoyed sigh, so before it could become a bigger issue I quickly walked out of the room and went to the kitchen. It smelled wonderful in there. "What cha making Laguna?"

"Roast beef!" Good choice, it was one of his best dishes. I opened the freezer and pulled out the ice tray.

" 'ey, Laguna, we got any rags or something?" I said as I popped some ice cubes out.

"Yeah, in the drawer next to the silverware. Why?"

"Rinoa has this big bruise on her leg."

Laguna gasped loudly. "Squall! Have I taught you nothing? You never strike a woman! Especially one like Rinny!"

"Dumbass! I didn't hit her!"

Laguna smirked greatly. "Well then, stop having rough sex." I'm gonna stab him.

"Moron. Just give a towel or something."

"Ok, but only if you promise to treat Rinny with more care."

"...promise." Laguna handed me a towel and chuckled to himself. I put the ice cubes on the towel and wrapped them, but not before chucking one at his head. I hit my target perfectly.

When I got back to my room Rinoa was shooting the hell out of the crazy villager people. I sat next to her and gently but the ice pack on her thigh. Rinoa yelped and paused the game. "Squall! That's cold..."

"It's ice stupid, no shit it's cold." She pulled a Laguna and stuck her tounge out at me. "Better put that away before I do something bad to it." Her tongue quickly darted back into her mouth. She grabbed the ice pack, held it in place, and handed me the controller.

I went back to blasting poeple's heads off, when Rinoa hugged me and whispered,"thank you..."

I smiled and kissed her forehead. "Don't mention it."

"Squall...can I use your laptop?"

"What for?"

"Well..." She looked awayed a little and blushed "...there's a new chapter of a fanfiction I really like.. so I want to read it."

God...Who actually reads fanfiction?

...

Oh yeah.

"Sure, Go right ahead." Rin squealled before kissing my cheek and running off to get the laptop.

As soon as stepped out the door, she yelled, "Holy shit! It smells really good out here!" I think I heard Laguna laugh.

So I was playing video games and Rinoa was reading stories and reviewing or whatever it is you do with fanfiction, when stupid Ashley gets kidnapped. I know what you're thinking. Damn Squall, you suck. No! That is not it! You can not keep an eye on Ashley and all those bastards at the same time! You can not move while shooting. It's not happening! And instead of retrying I shut off the game and threw the controller on the ground. "Screw it." I turned to Rinoa to see what she was up to. When I crawled my way over to her she quickly shut the laptop and smiled nervously. "What were you doing?" Don't we just spend our time together in a lovely way?

"N-nothing." She replied while turning red. "Nothing at all."

"Let me see." I reached for my laptop, and Rin smacked my hand.

"No."

"It's my laptop."

"So?"

"So it's mine, so gimme."

"Nope."

I jumped on Rinoa as an atemmpt to get my damn laptop but I accidently touched her bruise. Rinoa let out a cry of pain and my attention was immediatly turned away from the laptop to her. I grabbed the laptop from her hands and placed it on the desk near my bed. "Rin are you ok?" She nodded with her eyes clenched in pain. I gently stroked her face and pull her close. "I'm so sorry Rinoa."

"It's ok... just hurt a little."

"Then what was up with the scream?"

"Dramatic effect?"

"What happend to 'it doesn't hurt, therefore it's fine' huh?" She stuck her tongue out agin. "I warned you about that." Rinoa sat there and blinked for a while, and I think her face was replaced with a tomato. Taking advantage of this, I crashed my lips to hers. I pushed Rinoa lighty on the bed and got on top of her. My hands roamed to touch and feel her soft skin, being careful with the bruise. I divided her legs and positioned myself between them. I started riding Rinoa slowly while kissing her. Rinoa moaned slightly in the kiss and her hands went underneath my shirt.

Suddenly the door bust open again. This time I was the one to jump. Laguna was all smiles and said" Dinner's ready!"

"Damnitt Laguna!"

"What? ...Oh. Well you shouldn't be doing that with your Dad in the house!"

"Fine" I got off Rinoa and helped her get up too. We went to the dining room. God it smelled so wonderful in there. The roast was in the center of the table, begging to be eaten. I took a seat and Rinoa took one next to me. I was about to grab some food when Laguna smacked my hand with his really hot spoon.

"Wait for Mama." That could hours from now. It seemed that luck was on my side today, for my lovely mother had just walked in through the door. Mom stepped her way in, took off her shoes and smiled at us. Like Laguna she quickly noticed Rinoa and ran to hug her. Rinoa got up and responded with a squeal.

"Sweetheart, I haven't seen you in so long! How have you been?"

"I've been okay." They both sat down again and i finally got some food. So naturally at the dinner table, my mom would ask me how my day was, I would tell her fine and nothing more...it's not like I was gonna mention how many times Laguna killed the "mood" for me in one day. So Raine went to Rinoa, asking how Deling was, her school, friends, basic stuff like that. So the women of the house went on with their useless chatter while Laguna and I got our fill.

Did I mention how great the food was? Ok, so I mention the beef a couple of times, but I didn't mention the wonderful pasta with warm alfredo sauce, warm rice, dumplings filled with meat and vegetables... it was all mouthwatering. Laguna made this all in a matter of an hour or so. Is that possible? Sometimes I wonder if or not he was really a soldier in the Galbadian army. Sometimes I think he was just the chef...

After eating that most kick ass dinner, the normal lazy effect kicked in. Rinoa and I walked back up the godforsaken stairs and I plopped my ass on my bed. Of course after she and my mom had the longest talk i've ever heard...

"What, too lazy to do anything now?" Rinoa asked. I barely nodded. "Too lazy to nod your head? Damn Squall."

I laid down and took a deep breath before I spoke. "Food...filled..Squall.. up... Squall... too tired..." I heard Rin giggle.

"Great, I'm dating a caveman."

"Uga..."

"What?"

I laughed. "Caveman for yep." I felt something crawl up my body, then Rinoa's face was in my view. ...Crap... she was using her smirk... she has an idea, and whatever it was, it was going to be very nice.

"What's caveman for..." She paused for a while to nibble my earlobe. "... 'my panties are drenched '?"

Didn't I tell you it was going to be nice? All I could do was smirk back. "Well, I'm pretty sure it's 'we're gonna have an awesome night.'"

She tilted her head cutely "Hmmm, I don't think that was caveman. It sounded like our language."

"Well you guys adapted our culture, after all we came first." I responded smirking. Instantly I spun Rinoa around so I was on top. The only thing on my mind was removing the all the nice clothing she had on. Slowly as I could, to savor the moment, I kissed her and began taking off her sweater, then her shirt. Licking up her neck I continued the ectasy. I made my way lower on her body when Rinoa crossed her legs. I quickly looked up to see what was wrong, I guess nothing since the tease was giggling half way to hell!

"Rin. What are you doing?" I said slightly irratetaed.

"Hmmm nuthin, i just don't feel like doing it anymore." She responded with a smug look on her face. I felt my eye twitch. One thing,you never, ever, do is stop a blue ball a man.

"Rinoa.. it's not over yet, your vagina's in my face!" that only caused her to laugh more and put her shirt back on. Un-fucking-believable...

"Nah, maybe later. side's it's a bit too early for that." She told me winking. "We can watch a movie or sumthin." But me, Squall... I didn't want to watch a movie.. I wanted to continue what we were doning before damnitt, and finally when stupid Laguna didn't interpu-

"Rinny! Dear, come here!" huh... speak of the devil.

Rinoa looked at me and we both got up to go downstairs. As we got down there I noticed the tension in the atomosphere. Slowly, but surely I figured it out. In the door way, with a very angry look on his face, stood the Grand Asshole himself, Charlys Caraway.

Rinoa went sickly pale, and this time she ran up the stairs, saying something about getting her stuff. All I could do stare at the man in my doorway, think of so many questions. Such as, why the hell was he here? And why is Rinoa so terrified, and more importantly, why did Laguna let him in?

Rinoa sure was taking a while and when I was about to call her, Caraway yelled out "What the hell do you think you're doing girl!" I mean I would probably yell something out but, the way he did it, just made me want to whack him again. So I sat down ,still staring at him, and Laguna brought up an important question.

"Not to mean any disrespect, but why are you here sir?"

Caraway smirked at Laguna " Why, did you think I would let my daughter be with your son?"

Laguna twitched a little, see it's ok if Laguna says something bad about me, I mean he's my dad, but when someone else does, well old man gets a little.. not happy.

"I understand that, but Rinoa said-"

"The brat said it was okay right?" Caraway responded with a sarcastic tone. I was getting really sick of this guy, so I decided to see what was up with Rinoa, before heading upstairs I made sure to give Caraway a death glare.

Rinoa was printing something out in my mom's office area when I got up there. she looked up at me and all I could see was fear. Then she opened her bag and pulled out a small box. Her face became soft as she walked over to me.

"I know it's early, since it's still about three weeks before Christmas, but here, it's your present." She told me softly.

"Thanks." I took the box and pulled her into a hug, "Rin.. did you li-" Before I could finsh I felt hug me.

"Yes.. I lied to you guys... I snuck out again.. I told you guys it was okay because if I said snunk out again I knew your Dad would probably try to get me home... "

"Well, ...don't worry it's fine. We're not mad."

She looked at my face and smiled again. "Thanks" she said before placing a kiss on my lips. We headed down the stairs again. Caraway is a very impatient man, he was tapping his foot and glaring even harder than before. I really wanted to break his nose again.

Rinoa apologized to my folks before heading out the door, Caraway right behind her.

"Rin!" Rinoa turned around. "I'll see you later right?" I asked.

She smiled a bit. "Uga." Caraway grabbed her arm and pulled her into the car. I went back into the house and saw Laguna pouting like a child.

:"Aww.. I really wanted Rinny to stay."

I nodded at him" I think we all did..."

Mom got up and headed towards the kitchen. "Did you boys notice how scared she was? Something's definatly not right with those two." I had a feeling she was right. I had a long day so I went back to Mom's office to see what Rinao had printed out, I didnt see her take the paper.

On the copy paper Rinoa wrote a letter to me. it said :

Hiya **Squall**! Squall helpDadhe'shurtingmeIcan'ttakeitAnymoreIwantoutple ase

Sorry about the w**h**ol**e** thing. I real**l**y wanted to stay. I guess I should just told you guy the truth, insted of **p**utting you guys in that position. I didn't mean to cause a scene.** Dad**... well... **he's**... not doing so well. He's been angry and** hurt **from mom's death. They say that's part of grev**ing**, so don't think too badly of him. **I** know mom died a while ago but I know it's still affecting both him and me. I doubt it'll keep going like that, it **can't **las**t** too long, he'll be b**a**c**k **to his normal s**e**lf again, so don't worry 'bout** it. Any**ways, I hope you like the present. I had it **m**ade just for y**o**u, I designed it myself and asked this blacksmith guy in Deling to make it fo**r **m**e**.** I **thought it looked really nice **w**hen it w**a**s do**n**e, so I **t**hink y**ou**'ll like i**t** too.

**Please** if you don't lie even if you don't like it, it cost a lot! ^_^ You still have my number so give me a call.

~ Love ya! and Merry X~mas

Rinoa

The fuck was with all the bold?

I guess mom's computer got screwed up or something... so after reading that I opened the box Rin gave me, and I gotta say, that blacksmith guy was amazing, either that or Rinoa does some really good designing.

It was an awesome necklace of a lion head of some sort, and there was something that looked like a cross under it, it was made ot silver so I can see why she said it cost a lot. I put the note in my pocket and went back to my room after this eventful day and played some video games to get my mind off all of this.

But seriously! Why was the letter all messed up like that..?

Thing is...after all that...

I never saw Rinoa again...


	2. Why am I so stupid!

Wow, this took a while. I had an idea of what I was going to write for this one, so I began writing quickly... then I got writers block... I've been told I should put this story in the Final Fantasy Dissidia category, but I doubt anyone will read it if it's there so it's staying in FF8' Sides it's mostly focused on Squally and Rinny, so it should be fine right?

**Oh Squally might a bit OOC, I figured he's the way he is in FFVIII because the people he cared about left him, and since in this he has his family, and people, I guess he doesn't have to act like that. Still moody though**

_**Why Am I So Stupid?!**_

It's been three months since Caraway came to my home and took Rinoa away. Winter's almost over, and spring just came from around the corner. God, and that means it's been three months since I've had Rinoa in my arms, since I kissed her face, her lips, caressed her skin... and it's been three months since I've gotten laid!

Squall Loire is having withdrawal symptoms...

... this sucks.

All this time, I had no contact with her... I always check my phone for missed calls, I check e-mail and IM, but nothing. It's like she disappeared from the face of the earth. I tried to make contant with her, and also nothing. Why is that when you want to talk to your girlfriend she never picks up? And when you don't want to talk to her she always calls? But all joking aside it kinda makes me worry. Not to jump to crazy conclusions, but something could have happened to her right?

Anyways, new topic, I'm sure you don't want to hear about this the whole time.

Here I am at breakfast with my friends Irvine Kinneas and Zell Dincht. The main vocalist and bassist of of our band, oh and so you know, I'm the main guitarist. That's right I've been playing since I was six.

Remember how I mentioned how majority of Winhill's population was not even from here? Well same thing goes for Irvine and Zell. Irvine was fron Deling and then moved to Dollet and came here. Zell was from Balamb, he moved here with his Mom. I got to know them in 8th grade. Pretty cool guys, except for the fact they can get annoying.

Irvine is also how I got to know Rinoa. They've known each other for a while and are basicly like brother and sister. Anyways during a sophomore dance Irvine bought her as his date to make this girl jealous. Rinoa knew of course and agreed. I know what you're thinking "Geez Squall, you go after one of your best friend's girl?!" Well, not really. I was dating someone at the time, (I'll get to that later) but I spent most of the time hanging out with Rin and we sorta clicked. Now you're thinking "Squall, you unfaithful bastard!" like I said we'll get to that later.

Well, from what I did, Irvine's plan failed, but I got to meet Rinoa and I guess he was ok with it. So after that I got her number, broke up with my now Ex, and basically went with Rinoa.

Ok, now to the part that you thought I was an asshole for. Kyhlina Heartnet was my last girlfriend. She was a gorgeous girl with long flowing ruby hair, and hazel eyes and a nice slender body. Now if I'm saying these nice things about her, why did I break up with her? Well in short, she was a bitch. Simple isn't it? To make me looker better, (true fact) she was just going out with me for fun, nothing serious, and I hated that. A pure waste of my time. So it wasn't a big deal right?

Right.

Moving on.

Now I'm eating the actually good school breakfast, hearing the conversation between the two of them about the next song they want to work on.

I'm bored.

Naturally and, always, something causes me to be entertained. Today's wonderful person, is Tidus Pyre. The cheerful blond with issues that never seem to bother him. He took a seat next to me with his food and smiled his goofy smile

"Hey Squall, how ya been?"

"Fine I guess..."

Drummer of our band. Met him freshman year. He's cool too, but way too nice for his own good, but considering his condition, you can't blame him. See Tidus has no memory after a car accident two years ago. So he probably doesn't remember not to trust everyone. He gives money away to people who pretend to be poor, and pretty much helps anyone out. He would walk five old ladies across the street if possible. He's like a freakin' kid. All he knows is his age, name and who his father is, and that's because his old man told him. It was amazing when I met him and he told me he barely remembers anything. He said it with a big stupid grin, like it didn't matter at all.

For someone who doesn't have a clue, he beats a mean drum. Tidus said it just came naturally to him, so maybe he played it earlier in his life.

Tidus tilted his head like a kid, "Did ya get a call from Rinny yet?" he asked as he began to chow down on his pancakes. Tidus never met her but I guess I talked about her enough to give her a nickname.

I shook my head "Not yet."

Tidus put his fork down and stared at me with a raised eyebrow, "You're kidding right? Do you realize how long it's been?"

"No, not at all. Four months is nothing, I think I should wait a couple of years before I consider it a long time." I responded sarcastically.

"Oh.. right.. I hope nothing happened to her..." He said while eating another pancake.

If you can find someone that does more school activities than Tidus Pyre, then I'll give you 5,000 gil. This kid plays blitzball, he paints, he plays in our band, and he's in drama, ya know, like acting. Surprisingly, he's a damn good actor. Wait, why is he in drama Squall? Well kids, this is a fun story to tell, so listen up.

Like I said before, Tidus has no memory of the past, I told you all he knows, except for one thing. Tidus knows he's absolutely, head over heels, without a doubt, in love with Yuna . I'm not sure how he knows but he told us he fell in love the moment he saw her. Tidus found out she was in drama, so he joined in hoping to get to know her better, talk to her, and maybe, just maybe, get to be with her. It was a smart plan except for the drawback. Yuna doesn't talk to him, in fact she acts like he doesn't even exist. She talks to the poor guy sometimes, pretty much whenever she needs to, but when she does you can see the happiness in his eyes, it pretty much radiates off him. He helps her out whenever he can, with whatever she needs, again, he's way too nice.

Tidus also studies like it's his job. He wanted to catch up with everyone in the many subjects school teaches us. He has B's in like everything. Tidus' reasoning for all this studying is just because he lost his memory, that doesn't mean he has the right to be stupid. Interesting huh?

"Maybe you should go over there and see if she' s ok..." Tidus told me softly, while cutting a hash brown.

"I don't know if I have the money for it." I responded sadly.

"But you have money for games and other worthless things right?" A voice said behind me. I turned around to another friend of mine pop out of nowhere, seriously they're like cockroaches! It was another blond. with spiky hair, and deep cerulean eyes, that all formed his stoic face.

This was Cloud Strife. My closest friend. I've known him since 5th grade. He was the keyboardist of our band, and like everyone else, he's amazing at the instrument he plays.

"I'll have you know I haven't bought a game in two months!" I yelled back.

Cloud chuckled before taking a seat, "Your backpack is open."

"So?"

"So, leave that open and someone might steal from it."

I raised an eyebrow "What would they possibly want from my backpack?"

Cloud opened his carton of milk, put a straw in before looking up in the air "Well. your cell phone, your MP3, your PSP, your-"

"Okay, I get your point!" I called out while zipping up my backpack. "Thanks Mom." I told him sarcastically.

"Anytime." Cloud responded with a smug grin on his face.

Cloud Strife, well now he's an interesting person to talk about. Where to start, well he's the oldest out of all of us, he being 18. Cloud's got some issues too, but unlike Tidus, he definitely lets it bother him. He was fine before, up until last year, that's when his emotions went downhill. Usually Cloud's a jerk who doesn't give a crap. Now he's the guy who...

Behind us a girl was on her phone. From what she as saying one could guess she was talking to her boyfriend. How could I guess that? Well it seemed like their conversation would never end mostly because she kept repeating the words "No you hang up." ... I hate it when people do that.

It seemed like it bothered Cloud more. He got up and walked over to the girl. Cloud grabbed her cell and shut it right in her face. This poor girl looked shocked, her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide. Cloud glared and said "No, I hang up." He came back to our table and I couldn't help but laugh my ass off.

As I was saying. Cloud ... well he turned into... that.

He has a good reason reason for it though. One year ago, Cloud's girlfriend was shot down during a drive-by. Aeris Gainsborough was Cloud's sweetheart, if you will, and this is quite a story.

Aeris was walking home from Cloud's house according to him when it happened. Cloud couldn't walk her home, he was taking care of Denzel, his kid brother. Denzel was sick with the flu, Cloud's mom asked him to take care of him for a couple hours, and within those hours, Cloud had a real life changing experience..

After saying thier sweet goodbyes, Aeris made it halfway down the street before it became filled with screams and sounds of gunfire. Aeris had time to turn around before getting hit by four bullets, two in the left leg, one in the shoulder and the last one in her stomach. One of the worst things about the whole ordeal was that, Cloud got to see the whole thing, he was standing in his front door, and watched it happen. It happened so fast he didn't have time to blink. Cloud was in an extreme state of shock when he made his way to check on her.

Due to the bullet in her leg, Aeris fell over and hit her head on the sidewalk, adding head trauma and a cracked skull in her injury list. Aeris is currently in Ever Grace Hospital in a coma. She hasn't moved, said anything since, and it's driving Cloud crazy. He goes to see her everyday to see if she'll wake up.

Every.

Fucking.

Day.

Cloud skipped a couple of steps and went straight to blaming himself. We lost a good friend and our female lead singer. But enough with being all depressed,

"Well, what do you plan on doing then Squall?" Cloud asked.

"I really don't know. I could go up there, but I doubt I'll be allowed seven feet near the building. Plus there's the issue of the amount of money it would take to go to Deling."

Tidus finished his hash brown, and pulled out his wallet "Well, I could help you out if you want. I got about 30 gil with me. It costs 500 right?"

I shook my head "No, but thank you anyway." I didn't want Tidus wasting his money on me, he does it too much with assholes in school. And people say I'm not nice.

Zell just happened to chime in, I guess he finally heard our conversation. "Our little manager, or managers, should be signing us up for a gig, so you could get some money off of there Squall."

"Oh yeah, our manager is gonna get us a gig for once... I'm sure." I retorted back.

"Hey! I resent that!" A voice said behind me. I turned to look at the top of a blond head. I chuckled when I went face to face with Zidane Tribal. Our manager. "I have gotten you guys plenty of gigs!" he yelled in my face.

I pushed the runt's face away from mine. "Without Mikoto's help?" I smirked.

"You never said that, you just made it sound like I didn't help you guys out." he pouted.

"Fine, fine, I'm sorry."

"You'd better be." Zidane smiled triumphantly.

"I apologize for my brother's behavior." A small blond girl said.

Zidane and Mikoto Tribal, the monkeys as we call them; their a grade below us making them sophomores, have always been around to bother us. Well Zidane anyways. I couldn't stand him. Mostly because Zidane had a habit for stealing things! Missing money or electronics are a essential part of hanging out with Zidane. Mikoto would always tell us. Zidane really wanted to be a part of the band, and he did play a few instruments, he was really good at the bass, but Zidane didn't want to work as hard so he made himself the manager. No one complained since Mikoto does more work than him. Though Zidane has been a great help and great for comic relief.

"So what do you have in store this time o' manager almighty?" Irvine asked

Mikoto took a seat, opened her backpack and pulled out a sketchbook. She always writes notes in there. An open page of her book was filled with times, locations, and clients. Her faced seemed focused as she dicussed the terms of our contract with clubs, pubs, or sometimes bars.

"We will continue our time with the Ragatta, and the Barebosas contract too. Now our new schedule says the percent of having the opportunity to perform at Roxberry is quite high. Patrecia's are having a disco week so there is no profit to be gained there." Mikoto stated. Yeah she talks like that. The difference between Zidane and her is greatly shown.

"What about 7th Heaven?" Zidane asked taking a seat next to Tidus. "The lady there seemed nice."

Mikoto rasied her eyebrow. "That place is too small, not to mention, though it's popular, it is in fact a bar."

Tidus' turn to raise an eyebrow "What's wrong with bars? And must you use sketch paper for this?" Being an artist that bothers him something fierce.

Mikoto took at sip from her orange juice box. The monkeys love juice boxes for some reason. "Well it would be filled drunken old men who have nothing in their lives so instead of doing us a favor and killing themselves, they drink their lives away and bother others. And yes Tidus, I will continue to use the sketchbook paper for as long as I see fit."

Wow harsh.

Tidus ate a piece of bacon and sunk a bit, pouting.

Cloud looked over at Mikoto "7th Heaven isn't like that. It's a nice place, and the people there aren't poeple who drink their lives away." Cloud seemed a bit irritated...

Irvine laughed "Alright, alright. Let's talk about this later. It's too early for this shit. Anyways, we're having a meeting about this later this week so don't worry about that now okay guys?" Irvine does that a lot. Whenever there was tension between members, he'd butt in.

Mikoto Looked over at me. "Squall. Your backpack is open."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "No it's not. I just closed it" She shook her head, and pointed to it. It was indeed open. Again. With Zidane around it was a good idea to close it...

Breakfast was over, and first period was about to start. God.. I hate school. We said our goodbyes and began our journey to the rooms of torture. I made my way into Room 576... Plane Geometry.

Followed by Tidus we entered Mr. Auxder's class. First name Cid. We took our seats by Rikku Auxder. She smiled at us and wrapped her arms around Tidus. Rikku and Tidus have been best friends ever since he lost his memory, in fact she was the first to talk to the kid when he came back to school. Irvine has given Tidus the idea of using Rikku to get closer to Yuna. Rikku has informed us that if anyone messes with her "Cuz" she was gonna have to bust some ass. Meaning that was not an option for Tidus, though I doubt he would do it anyway.

Oh, and yeah, Mr. Auxder is in fact Rikku's father. Cid, the bald man with a mean temper. He's not very patient, he's rude, and has a habit of calling everyone a "dumbass"

He's cool.

Shinra's voice filled the room. "Students, I'd like to inform you that today, there will be early release. Students will leave at 10:15. Teachers will remain due to Quarterly exams."

...How convenient. Well that gives me more time to ponder on what happened to Rinoa.

10:15 meant that there would only be 2 periods today, so after math I have history... with Zidane... oh joy. He did really good in history, so he got to skip a class and now has what juniors would normally get... instead of just putting him in AP class.. he's got to bother me.

Classes are over for the day, and now we wait outside for the bus...

Alright so class with the monkey today wasn't all that bad. he only stole about four pens from the teachers. Not bad considering his record of going into the teachers desk and stealing around 21.

Goddamn little clepto.

"Okay who wants this one? It has a excellent design, with a blue gel ink inside. Bid starts at two bucks`" Oh and did I mention that Zidane likes to auction the stuff he stole?

"Well do you have that in black?" Tidus asked "I need it for inking in a picture."

Zidane shuffled through his mess of pens, pencils, highlighters,and white out.. "I should. I made sure to stock up on my blacks... huh.." Surprisingly he doesn't lose track of what he stole.

"You didn't steal that did you Zidane?" He stopped dead in his tracks, because that wasn't any of our voices. That voice belonged to Garnet Till Alexandros. This is one of the funniest things that you can see happening to Zidane. Watch as the frighted monkey stutters as he tries to break free of this unnatural situation.

"N-no I bought them for m-my...f-f-friends! Yeah! That's the word I'm looking for!" He smiled nervously at her.

"That's good, cause stealing is wrong, you know that right?" She kissed him on the cheek before running off to catch her bus. Zidane didn't move, he stood there until he finally realized what just happened, and his face became red.

"You know buddy, you really gotta stop doing that." Irvine stated. "If you keep lying like that, she's not going to like the real you if you guys start dating."

Zidane regained his posture, and came back to his senses "Look who's talking!"

"Exactly, I have experience with these things."

I had to look over at Irvine on that one. "So you lie to women a lot?"

"Only when it's needed." he replied.

Zidane laughed "So since you're such a failure at life, I guess that would make all times."

"You're the failure you monkey. Did you not notice the way you just died when Garnet talked to you? No manhood whatsoever. "

"Shut up, she's hot" Zidane responded.

"I've seen better." Tidus chimed in.

"Who? the chick who pays no attention to you?" that was a big no-no on Zidanes part, Tidus is ... sensitive... in the sense that he'll kick your ass if you upset him. Fortunately Tidus just shook his head.

"I'll forgive you due to the pen."

Zell had to jump in and stop then pointless conversation. "Hey, my bus is here. Don't forget, Espionage this weekend." he said as he stepped forward inside his bus.

Zidane nodded "I almost forgot about it.. hmmm. Think Garnet would like to come?" he said with a smirk on his face.

Tidus turned his head to him,"You're gonna invite a chick to Espionage? The one day we use to get away from girls and shit?" it seemed like Tidus and the monkeys are on bad terms today if you ask me. But Tidus was right. Espionage was the name of a Laser Tag place. It was dark, gloomy and had perfect places for shooting people. It was a good for letting out stress and distracting us from school and other sources of annoyance. Zell proposed that we never bring a chick with us after Irvine attempted to bring his last girlfriend... did not end well... so it was agreed between the guys that only the guys would participate in the joys of shooting others in a dark room with lights that can give you seizures.

"Hey Squall.. why are you taking the bus?" Cloud changed the subject. The others looked at me as well, Just as curious as Cloud was on the matter.

I sighed. "January 14th." A series of "oooh!'s" came from them in unison.

"Sorry about that man. Oh! My bus is here now. Bye guys!" Tidus waved.

Zidane laughed a bit before smirking "You gotta admit it was fun." I nodded a bit. I wasn't gonna lie. The fact that Zell decided to take a joyride with my car irritates me, but well... well the ends justify the means. the only issue was that it got into a crash because of a tree that popped in the middle of the road out of nowhere, which led to Laguna finding out, and taking my license away, and my car at a repair shop. Yeah there's only one positive in there... damnitt.

"So how long you gotta wait before you get it back?" Cloud asked.

"Hopefully next month cause that's when I'll be able to pay for it... you all owe a huge debt."

Zidane shrugged "That's fine. I can get money."

"You mean steal" I replied.

"I'm still getting it aren't I?"

There were giggles. I had to stare at my friends. They don't giggle. Men don't giggle. It's just not something the male part of the human race should never do. Which meant one thing. Fangirls. I heard Cloud slightly groan, which confirmed it. A tiny girl was surrounded by her friends and they were approaching us fast. The tiny one had her chestnut hair up in pigtails, tied with green ribbons. Her face was red, and she was carrying a little gift box. She made way over to Cloud, and held out the gift to him. A typical fangirl thing, Cloud took the little box slowly, and nodded toward her.

"Thank you." He said kindly. The girl's friends squealed and laughed. they grabbed her and began saying things like "Good job" and "See i told you he would take it." and blah blah blah. One of the many friends there made her way over to Cloud and I.

"Would you guys ever date each other?" She asked with a smile on her face.

I looked over at Cloud, I don't think I've ever seen so much disgust on his face before. Simultaneously we both shouted "NO!" Some chicks are gross.

There were a lot of sounds of disappointment that came from them. Irvine decided to become an even greater version of the ass he already was.

"Well, not yet anyways. You see Squall needs to get in touch with his girlfriend, and Cloud's girl is in the hospital. They're going to wait to tell their significant others that they hopped the fence." Cloud and I made another face of disgust. The girls cheered, smiled and giggled before leaving.

Cloud punched Irvine in the stomach. "Why would you even say that?!"

Irvine smirked. "You have to humor them."

I ever mention how much I hate buses? ...Hmmm yeah I did...Whatever.

i was at the front door when I heard Laguna's voice saying "Yeah don't worry. I promise to tell him Rinny." Rinny... that.. was Laguna's nickname for Rinoa... That name was echoing through my head for about five minutes before i finally comprehended what that meant. Rinoa was alive. She was talking to Laguna. There was some kind of connection, some kind of contact with her. Had Laguna been keeping this from me the whole time or did Rinoa just now finally contact one of us? I had to stop thinking and just get this door open.

I walked in to hear the sound of running water, Laguna was washing dishes. I took of my shoes and threw my backpack on the floor. I guess he heard it because after that Laguna quickly ran over.

"Squall my boy! Don't worry I heard that you were getting out early. The school called." Always with a big stupid grin on his face. "Oh, guess who has the best news ever?" Before I could even open my mouth "That's right! Your Daddy does!" I'll never understand how I'm related to this man... maybe I should get a DNA test.

"And your amazing news is?" I quirked. Please be talking about Rinoa you fool.

Laguna did what i did not ever think was possible, he smiled even wider, nearly blinding me with his teeth. "Rinoa called! She said that she's fine that you should call her back when you got home on this phone number!" He handed a small piece of paper. "There ya go!"

I thanked him like 50 times before, while running to, and after I grabbed the phone and ran to my room. I pressed the numbers with such an incredible speed, I swear I would win a world record. The dial ring was murder, I had to sit there waiting.

"Hello?" a voice from the other side said.

I gasped slightly, waiting to hear Rinoa's voice just to be sadly disappointed. It wasn't her. It was a rather squeaky, and high pitched.

"Rinoa?" it was a stupid question to ask. It wasn't her, and there reason to hope. What, Rinoa went through some surgery and had her voiced changed or something, keep dreaming Squall.

"Oh! You're the Knight! Don't worry she's right here." Knight? Wait she said that Rinoa ... was there.

"H-hello?"

"Rinoa?" Didn't we just go through this?

"S-squal! Hold on, let me go to a different room ok?" Her voice sounded frantic, like she was scared or something. "Ok, I'm in a room. How have you been?" Are you kidding me? She's the one that goes missing and she asks how I've been?

"Rinoa, no offense but are you stupid? I've been fine, maybe you could've known that if you, umm i dont know, answered my calls? My emails?! Where the hell have you been?!" I didn't mean to sound angry. I won't lie, I was very pissed, but i didn't want her to know.

"I'm.. sorry... after i got home... Daddy took away my phone and my computer."

"You could've used the house phone, your dad's computer, the computers at school, a friends computer or phone. goddamn it Rinoa! Fucking think!" Well forget the idea of me not trying to be mad.

"I'm ...I'm sorry I-"

"Rinoa, stop apologizing and fucking explain!" Well.. I just went in full on dick mode.

"I was trying to!" She broke in sobs after. I didn't understand what was going on, so I was pissed, but by no means did I want to make her cry. Ever.

"Rin... I'm sorry. Hey I didn't want to make you cry.. I ..."

"No..no.. it's not because of that... I understand you were very worried about me. I'm sorry, but it wasn't my fault that I couldn't contact you, my.. my father had me under house arrest or something... I.. I couldn't leave the house unless it was to go to school and even then I was picked up right as it ended and forced to stay home..."

"Damn.. your old man went over board. Why.. was he doing that?" I really didn't know what to say to that...

I heard a gulp coming from the other line, along with more crying. "Cause.. he said that he didn't want me to sneak out again..."

"That's fucking extreme Rin."

"Dad's .. been drinking.. and quite possibly doing drugs.." Possibly? "But.. what the hell Squall! I've been waiting for you and you never showed up!"

What? "Excuse me, but what are you talking about? You're the one that goes missing and you're angry at me?!" it should be the other way around!

"Did you read the note I left?!" She kinda screamed that last part.

"Yeah I read it. Why are you fucking screaming?"

"Did. You. Read. It?"

The hell? What was her issue? Rinoa's voice sounded raspy, and she still was slighty crying, but I was so lost it wasn't even funny. "Yeah i read it, The print was fucked up, but I read it."

"The print wasn't screwed up Squall.. " She sighed "I know you aren't that good with details but come on..."

"Details? Hold on a second." I got up from my bed and quickly made my way over to my homework desk. Yes i have a homework desk. It's really useful. I opened it and took out her note that was tucked in the corner. "Umm what am I supose to be seeing?"

"Squall. Sweetie. I love you but you're so stupid! Do you see the bold?"

I groaned at this woman. Yes I see the damn bold letters, not going to make a huge difference. "Hold on then" I grabbed a pencil and a piece of paper from my desk and began writing all the bold letters down. It came out to:

Squall helpDadhe'shurtingmeIcan'ttakeitAnymoreIwantoutple ase

A.K.A

Squall

Help, Dad, he's hurting me. I can't take it anymore. I want out. Please.

I felt happy. I felt relieved. I felt angry. I felt guilty, stupid, sad, humiliated, devastated, like a complete moron for not noticing it. there was no amount of apologizes I could give to make this right. I can't go back in time and fix this. I wish I could, I really did, but it's not going to happen. Not in my lifetime.

"Rinoa..." I was speechless for a while. "I.. don't know what to say...I...I'm sorry..."

"Squall don't-"

"No. Don't you give me any bullshit like 'oh it's ok, it's not your fault' don't.."

Rinoa sighed. Her voice seemed more firm, more assured of herself. "Squall. You didn't cause my father to do.. such things to me. You didn't make him do it. It isn't your fault. But, what you can do something... you can help me get out of here okay?" Her last words came out as barely a whisper. Her crying stopped, and I calmed down a bit. She was right. i couldn't change the past, but I could learn from it, to help change the future.

"Alright, I got a plan. You're old man has gotten you locked up at home right? Now how is the security around there?"

"He has guards placed in the front and back gates like always, but sometimes they're at my bedroom door. I finally got out of the house in the last month, but i still had no means to contact you. I'm using a friend's phone." Her voice was fine, normal to say the least, but I was certain that if i looked at her face, her cheeks would be stained with tears, and more would be coming down her face.

" Keep this phone with you. Ask her, bribe her, threaten her, blackmail her, beg her, beat the living shit out of her, do anything you have to, to keep this phone. Don't let the asshole see it, don't let him go near it, don't even think about it near him in case he has some crazy mind reading machine do you hear me?" A sound of approval came from her side of the phone.

Things couldn't get much worse. Well they could, but they couldn't make me feel much worse than what i feel right now. A sense of longing and regret took over me. It was much greater than my previous emotions.

"I should have been more attentive. I'm sorry Rin... I'll make it up to you..." I whispered.

A slight giggle was heard, Rinoa's normal speech and cheerfulness seemed to be coming back. "Squall... there's not much I can say to make you feel better. You can make it up to me though." Rin knew how i worked. Actions would always top words with me. Sure you can say shit, but you have to be able to back it up.

"What? What can I do?" It felt more like a plead than a question. I wanted to cleanse myself of this guilt.

"You can help me find a way to get out of here" Her words sent a spark. Electricity, and energy were good words to use to describe my rush. Immediately I was thinking of plans, ideas, operations, all that would lead to her escape. It was something I could do, and I intended on doing it.

"Rinoa, are there days when your father doesn't pay attention to you?"

"Besides ever? Well then I guess meetings." I enjoyed her little joke for a bit, but knowing that it was meant to be sour made it less favorable.

"Does he have a meeting anytime soon?"

There was a moment of silence from Rinoa's end. "... This Thursday."

"Then that's when we make our move."


	3. Bullshit

March 18th.

Thursday.

10:28 P.M

Location: Winhill Train Station.

Operation: Damsel in Distress

Procedure: Step 1: Wait for Caraway's meeting to start.

Step 2: Rinoa Heartilly will ask her guards if she is allowed to use the restroom, the idea being she has already hidden her necessities in the restroom.

Step 3: Rinoa will then convince her guards that she has … lady issues… and she has no… hygiene products…to take care of herself. Ugh.

Step 4: Since she cannot leave the house, one of her guards will have to go off and um… buy some I guess. Keep in mind there are only two.

Step 5: Rinoa then will knock out her other remaining guard with chloroform. Her dad keeps the weirdest shit in the house. Especially the bathroom.

Step 6: Rinoa will climb out the window of her bathroom and run across the yard.

Step 7: My good friend Balthier will then pick her up and bring Rinoa to the train station where she'll escape to my house!

Commencing.

What the hell am I doing? I'm trying to hype myself up for a goddamn kidnapping attempt that's what I'm doing. This is a lot harder than they make it look like in the movies. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing actually.

Rinoa and I just made this shitty plan out on a whim. We have no experience with kind of stuff, just teenage naivety and wishful thinking. Though we did have a professional pirate on our side.

Balthier Bunansa was the greatest pirate in the world. Or so he says anyways. The bastard tried to break into my house and my old man caught him by hitting him over the head with a pan, like a freakin woman. Then Laguna thought the fact that he was actually able to catch this man was of the greatest feats in the world and actually let him go. Yeah you read that right. Laguna Loire is not known for being the brightest light in the harbor, but he did manage to capture one of the greatest thieves in the world so that has to count for something.

So since Balthier was so grateful that Laguna and the rest of the family hadn't turned him in he offered us each a favor. It was time he paid what he owed.

"So I go in, get the girl, and bring her back to you? That's it?" Balthier asked me between his smoking his cig.

"Yeah that's all you have to do. Shouldn't be too hard."

"Well that's not why I'm asking, I mean I figured you would ask for something better kid." He took another puff of the cig before tossing it to the ground and crushing it.

"This is something really important Balthier."

"Oh I bet, girlfriends and all that." He chuckled before getting into her black Mustang. "I'll try to be back within two hours, but I ain't gonna promise anything. Especially if the girl isn't all that smart. The leading man doesn't always have things go his way you know."

I walked over to his window "She's not dumb. She'll be there. She has to be…" I whispered the last part.

Balthier chuckled "Alright, alright, if you say so kid." With that he put black shades on his face and gave me a reassuring smirk. His car's engine revved and he drove off.

I was left there to hope for the best. Rinoa is going to make it out okay. I repeated those words to myself over and over again. The magic of chanting had to work, otherwise we're screwed.

Teenage naivety.

Wishful thinking.

I remembered Rinoa's happiness when I promised to set her free. To be honest I don't know what came over me when I promised such a thing. It was a stupid idea, a stupid plan, and a stupid false hope. I was praying to God that pain Rinoa had suffered in that house was not was bad I thought it was, or at least as bad as she made it out to be. She was scared of that man, the man that's supposed to be her father.

I sighed as walked around the train station alone. I only told Irvine and Cloud of this plan, Irvine thought it was cool, and Cloud thought it was the stupidest thing he's ever heard in his life. … I had to agree. Despair started to hit me again. Tidus and Zell have always told me that if I keep thinking something bad is going to happen, then it will. But with a 50-50 chance I only thought of the negative.

I heard my phone in ring in my pocket, I grabbed it out and lifted it to my view so I can see the caller I.D. Speak of the devil.

"Irvine, I am not in the mood. Whatever girl slapped you for whatever you did, I don't care. I never cared."

Irvine pretended to be offended. "Hey man that's kinda harsh. Besides dude, I wasn't even calling you to keep ya updated on my Selphie plan." Remember that girl I told you he wanted to get with? Yeah her name is Selphie Tilmitt. See Irvine has this black book where he wrote down all the types of women he's screwed. The manwhore has filled three books so far, and next on his list of women is "petite girl who can utterly kick your ass". Yeah, I know he has a sex problem, yeah I know it's not good to play with a girl like that, but since when does he listen to me?

"Alright then what do you want?"

"I just got a text from Rinny."

"What?"

" Yeah thought you'd like to know. She told me she's fine, that's she's coming to see us soon. I'm guessing princess has made it to the pirate's car. Oooor she has a lot of confidence in this." he chuckled.

"Oh… thank god." I sighed.

"Awww was Squally-kitty worried about his witlle girlfriend?"

"Shut up! And quit with that dumb nickname!"

Irvine laughed on the other line. "I'm just fucking with ya man. We were all worried about her, no need to be embarrassed. So what's your plan Squally-kitty?"

I wasn't too sure how to answer that one. "Balthier is going to bring her here, and then I'll just take her back to my place, Laguna will be overjoyed to see her again so no questions asked…. For a while anyway."

"So what do you plan on working out with her dad, you know with her disappearing and all, he's going to know you had something to do with it."

"We can handle it."

"Alrighty then, but don't be afraid to ask if you need anything." He chuckled. "Want me to go and meet ya there?" I guess he changed the subject because he knew I was going to start freaking out.

I shrugged, not that he could see me anyway. "Whatever."

"Aww come on Squally Think about how I hooked you two up! You gotta let me help ya!"

I didn't want Irvine involved in any trouble that I knew eventually would happen, but I did owe him a lot. I nodded, again, he couldn't see me so there really was no point. "I'll meet you at your place."

_**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXXXXXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**_

_"I can't believe you actually convinced me to come to this stupid fucking dance." I groaned dejectedly_

_"Squally-kitty, you needed to get out more often, show the ladies that the cold hearted Squall isn't really him." Irvine grinned._

_"No, no, he really is."_

_"You're just being a baby. Now don't go in until I meet my date." Did this guy really want me to stand out in the cold with him? Damn it all._

_"Ah! There she is!" Irvine started waving frantically, nearing jumping to gain attention. A jet black limo pulled up in front of our school. A tall man left the front seat and bowed towards Irvine. He was dressed as a chauffeur, his hands covered by black leather gloves, it matched his black suit. He opened the back seat, took off his hat and bowed in front of the now opened car door, extending his hand respectfully. A small hand gently touched his, and the chauffer help said hand up, revealing a petite body dressed in white. I chuckled as my mind finally clicked that it was a girl in the car. The whole moment was in slow motion, out of a fairy tale even. She wore a white dress that just barely made it past her knees it had slight frills at the bottom, the only thing that help up her dress was the criss-crossed strap that covered her neck, her hair was up in a tight messy bun, a flower clip holding it up, with her bangs falling in perfect alignment with her face._

_The chauffer bowed formally, and the girl giggled. She said something but we were too far to hear her. Irvine smacked my back and nodded his head towards her._

_"Beauty isn't she?" He chuckled." You can pick up your jaw from the floor now, wouldn't want your first impression to be a idiot, no matter how true it is. Come on I'll introduce ya."_

_"Whatever." We made our way to her, took her a while to notice us._

_"Oh, Thank you again Wedge, I would like to be picked up at midnight, on the dot." The poor man nodded, must sucked having to listen to a 16 year old rich snob, when you're a 25 year old man. Yeah, rich snob, that was my first impression of her. Seemed about right if you ask me._

_"Midnight ma'm? Your father made it clear for you to be home at 10." The man replied nervously._

_"I'll take care of him, Wedge I said midnight." She told him sternly. Okay, spoiled rich snob, this just keeps getting better and better. Wedge remained silent, and the girl kept staring at him, maybe she expected him to give in and get fired or something. Before I knew it, she and Wedge began laughing hysterically. "I'm just fucking with ya Wedge, Irvy said he'll bring me home isn't that right?"_

_Irvine scratched the back of head and nodded at her, "Wouldn't want to get you fired Wedge." The chauffer smiled and got back in the limo._

_"Make sure to take good care of her Mr. Kinneas." He said tipping his hat._

_"Drive home safely Wedge!" The girl cried out as he drove away. She turned to us with a bright smile on her face. "Well aren't you going to introduce me to your friend over that Irvine?"_

_Irvine smiled, "I was getting to that. Squall this is Rinoa Heartilly, Rinny, this is Squall Leonhart."_

_She smiled brightly at me and extended her hand towards me. I gently shook it. She tilted her head, "You're awfully quiet. It's nice to meet you."_

_"Eeeh, Squally-kitty is always like that. Don't mind him. Come Rinny let's get going!"_

_We made our way to the gym, which had been decorated by the Festival Committee to look like late 1800's ball room. Hence why I was dressed in a black suit, a black tie, white under shirt and black dress shoes. Irvine was in similar attire but in dark brown. The dance wasn't anything important, like prom and whatnot; it was to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the school. Winhill is a pretty poor town, most schools only fit about 200 kids in, so when the high school was finally made you can imagine the excitement that ran through the people. Place holds at least 2000 students, it ain't a bad place, its diverse and tolerate so there's no big problems besides the classic asshole\bitch._

_"Squuuuaallly wanna do me a favor?" Irvine said in a whiney voice._

_"Not really. No." I responded._

_"Well too bad. Show Rinny around the gym, I gotta take a piss." He pushed Rinoa into me and ran off._

_This ass really wanted me to hang out with a complete stranger… shouldn't he know me better?_

_Whatever._

_Rinoa looked up at me, her lips curved into a smile. "I'm thirsty, is there a punch bowl or some shit around here?" A swear? I didn't expect that to come out of little rich girl's mouth. I nodded and walked towards the left side of the gym, Rinoa skipping behind me. The table for with the snacks and whatnot stood on the back wall, chips, pizza, brownies, punch, drinks, everything and anything were displayed on the long table. Rinoa squealed and ran towards the punch bowl, filling a cup and drinking it hastily._

_"Don't you just hate formal dances like this?" It took me a minute to realize she was talking to me. I shrugged and grabbed myself something to drink. "Oooh they have brownies too! …With walnuts. Ekku."_

_I chuckled. " 'Ekku'?"_

_She pouted, sticking out her bottom lip and all. "It's what I say to something gross, or scary."_

_"So walnuts are…?"_

_"Both. They taste bad, should never be in brownies, and they look scary."_

_"…They're walnuts, what's so scary about them?"_

_Rinoa shuddered. "They look like they tried to copy peanuts, but epically failed." She hugged herself and shuddered again._

_I laughed, this girl made no sense. "So do you hate peanuts too?"_

_"No they're delicious!" She smiled brightly. I couldn't help but laugh again. She suddenly ran over to my side and poked me right in the side of my lip. "I got you to talk! Yay!"_

_"… Whatever."_

_She pouted once again, she seemed to do that a lot. "Oooh! Don't go back to being all silent again. I was having fun." You know this isn't exactly what I expected from this chick._

_"The hell is Irvine?" I groaned._

_"You know I was just thinking that, I mean how long does it take to-" The gym was filled with music. It sounded like the orchestra version of Julia Heartilly's 'Eye's On Me'. I heard Rinoa gasp next to me, her eyes were getting all watery… oh God, she better not cry._

_She did the exact opposite. Rinoa jumped in front of me. "You're the best looking guy here. Dance with me?"_

_I sighed. "I don't dance."_

_"Oh, I get it. You won't dance with someone you don't like." Officially this chick is weird, cause she starts waving her finger in my face like she was trying to hypnotizes me or something. "Look into my eyes: you're-going-to-like-me. You're-going-to-like-me. Did it work?" She really wanted me to say it. She couldn't just leave it alone. I sighed deeply this time._

_"I can't dance."_

_She smiled widely. Damn it now she's going to laugh at me._

_Instead she grabbed my had and started dragging me to the dance floor. "You can't leave a poor girl like me on the dance floor alone!"_

_Rinoa put one hand on my shoulder and held my other one, as I told her I can't friggin dance so I… nervously put my on her waist. She smiled and took a step to the right and I followed her nearly tripping on my own feet. She took a step back, again I followed but this time I rammed into the poor girl. Next step and we smashed into another couple._

_"Watch where you're fucking going!" some punk told us. Rinoa stuck out her tongue at them._

_I shook my head and pulled away from her. "This isn't working." I was making the biggest fool of myself. Rinoa pulled me back before I could walk away._

_"You're doing great." She's kidding right? Gently she place my hand back on her waist, then she smiled._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!_

_"Are you serious?" I could barely breathe since I was laughing so hard._

_"And then the broad cut me off so I rammed into her!" Rinoa took another swing from her can of beer. "This stuff sucks dude."_

_"Beer is the drink of the gods Rinoa. Zeus drinks beer you know." I responded chugging down the rest of her bottle._

_She gave me a slight glare before saying, "Zeus drank ale dumbass."_

_"This then in turn, made beer. Same fucking difference." I retorted. We've been at Irvine's after party for a good hour now. The dance ended at 10, which is probably why Rinoa's old man wanted her home at that time, who knows, it was lame anyway. This whole day was full things I didn't like; Parties, dances, dancing, people…. Overall it wasn't supposed to be… fun. Somehow Rinoa Heartilly managed to keep me interested. She was extremely outspoken, fun, nothing like the rich snob I thought she would be, and if I admitted it… she was cute._

_"You know if Irvy really wanted to get laid why didn't he just do his usual thing? I mean using me pretty much failed." Rinoa giggled. I couldn't help but chuckle myself, it was true. Irvine was pretty mad at me for stealing his date, but as it turned out, the girl he wanted to impress wasn't even there._

_I popped open another can, "He says he's got a book to fulfill. It's apparently the book of men. Why I never heard of it I'll never know."_

_"That's cause you're not quite a man yet squally-poo." To my left entered Irvine. "it's the book of real men."_

_"What's it of" Rinoa asked., she shifted, so Irvine could sit on the couch._

_"Well you see Rinny-dear, it's the book of all the different kind of women out there that I need to have sex with."_

_"That sounds kinda sexist… and why is this important.?"_

_Irvine grabbed my can and took a swing, "Because, 'Cute Girl who can kick your ass' is on the list. I'm only missing some girls anyway."_

_Rinoa tilted her head "…So you found said chick and need to do her."_

_"You're damn right I do. Now if you'd excuse me, I have to attend to my guests." Yeah he did, there were a lot of people here…. Ugh. Rinoa shook her hard, and patted the seat next to her._

_"Come sit over here." I obliged, and took a seat next to her. She leaned on my shoulder. "T-tell me about yourself. " She grinned, a big goofy grin._

_"umm Well, I was born and raised here. I umm like to play the electric guitar, umm I-" I was cut off because she crawled my lap. "Rinoa...?"_

_"Will you play me a song? I looooove music."_

_"I don't have a guitar with me..." even if I did I probably wouldn't play anything._

_Rinoa leaned in closer " That's true." Her voice faded with the last word. My gaze would fall upon her eyes and then her lips, I couldn't help it. Rinoa was doing the same. I would lean forward and so would she, soon our lips grazed one another's. I began to press my lips onto hers more, I heard her let a breath out, and open her lips inviting me in. My hand touched her cheek, and she gripped onto my shirt. We closed our eyes and soon we-_

_"Riiiiiinnnnnnnyyyyyy! We gots to go if you don't want to get in troubbblee!" Irvine called._

_Rinoa jumped off me, and grabbed her shoes from under the small table in front of us. "Coming!" She responded. She looked back me, her cheeks were tinted red. "I'm… I'm sorry about that."_

_I shook my head. "Don't worry about it…" I was regretting not doing it earlier…She nodded at me and ran to Irvine. I stood and followed her so I could say a proper good bye. Rinoa was hopping on one foot trying to get her heel on._

_"Hurry up Rin." Irvine told her teasingly._

_"I'm trying, I'm trying!" she cried. I don't know what came over me, but as Rinoa put her other heel on, I grabbed her hand and started dragging her to the back door. She struggled against my grip. "What're you doing?"_

_We got outside and I quickly pushed her against the wall. I wrapped my left arm around her waist and placed my right over her head._

_I crashed my lips onto hers, kissing her deeply. Rinoa pulled away and stared at me with concerned eyes._

_"S-squall?" Her cheeks were tinted red again. "What… what was that for…?" Instead of answering her I placed a kiss on her lips again. Something about her made it feel right, and when she began kissing me back, it felt great. I was cheating on Kylina… I knew I was, but I never felt this way, we had so much in common, we had fun, and we both knew we were… attracted to each other. I felt none of these things for Kylina, ever. At this moment, when Rinoa and I were in a deep passionate kiss, I realized I was only dating Kylina out of impulse. It was awful to think that, it was awful to even consider it, but honestly, I was never with these kind of things… and Rinoa made me feel comfortable with it… Is that normal? To feel this way when first meeting someone…? Rinoa pulled away from me, she blushed immensely and covered her lips with her finger tips._

_"Will I see you again?" I whispered._

_"Yes."_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXXXXXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I chuckled to myself as I recalled that memory. It was quite possibly the lamest thing I've ever done in my life. Clearly I was wasted; at least I'd like to think I was. Irvine and I have been sitting at his place playing Street Fighter IV for the past hour and a half. No call form Balthier yet, but it does take a bit to get around Deling, so I remain calm… for now. "Speak of the Devil…." My phone rang and 'Stupid Pirate' happened to be the I.D. "How'd it go?" I asked. Irvine looked over to me, gesturing to me, to know what was going on. "Rinoa." I simply told him.

"….She never showed… sorry kid."

'The leading man doesn't always have things go his way you know.' Those words rang in my head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXXXXXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have been losing sleep over this girl. Laguna told me it was going to be difficult taking care of a girlfriend but come on! The fuck! I slammed by tray of food down on our table, our daily breakfast ritual began.

"So what's up?" Tidus asked cheerfully. He likes to know things… he's weird, asks us that every morning and we reply:

"Got another date." Zidane and Irvine said in unison. They looked at each other, grinned, and gave each other a high five.

"Started practicing a new chord with the bass, by the way my fingers are still bleeding from it." Zell said as he stuffed three pancakes in his mouth at once.

"Hm." Cloud's reply, without looking up from his book might I add.

"…" I sat there spinning my fork over the sausage, trying to figure out the best way to impale it.

"Squall?" Tidus asked.

Irvine leaned over and whispered, "Rinny didn't make it last night…"

Tidus nodded "I'm so sorry dude."

"Whatever."

Cloud closed his book, and slammed it on the table. "You mean to tell me, you still haven't gotten her out of there?"

"Whatever."

"Squall, you suck." Zidane grinned.

"Shut the hell up. It's not like I grew up knowing how to do this shit. Not like I'm some hero trying to save the world from like, a crazy sorceress trying to eliminate time or something. I'm a regular guy, you tell me how to save your girlfriend from her psychotic alcoholic father!"

Cloud took off his reading glasses. " it's simple."

"Oh yeah, how the hell do you figure that?" I nearly screamed.

"…You have her commit suicide." He grinned.

…. This boy is a genius.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXXXXXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That took WAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY too long and I am sooooooo sorry about that! Well guys here's the new chapter and I'm really sorry if it wasn't satisfying. It ain't that great =( Oh this chapter is dedicated to Niqsta and Ne9star.

And Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, and Happy Kwanza!


	4. I'm Sorry Everyone

**Hey guys, I'm so sorry about never uploading these damn stories. Beside the fact that I'm completely embarrassed by my writing, since I wrote it when I was like 14, I've been going through some stuff, and I had no motivation whatsoever. Recently my father passed away and with that amongst other things so you can imagine how I simply cannot do anything. **

**But! That isn't fair to guys, and now I have a laptop so I should get writing. It's a good way to escape. I also plan on writing ... better. I'm older now so I hope it's not as flat out crappy as it was before. So as a promise to you guys, I intend to have a new chapter of this story up around sometime next week. I'll Be Your Guardian has gotten the most response from everyone so that'll come first. **

**Thank you so much for everything and I'm so so so sorry about all this. Thank you for your patience and I plan on rewarding you. **


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